Days out: A tippler's trail

Rosy with cider, on England's apple route

Sitting in the back of a horse-drawn cart, I'm contemplating life, the universe and everything. It could be the beautiful autumn sunshine glistening off mountains of green and red apples which has brought about this unusual state of contemplation. It could be the fact that Nobby, the horse supposedly pulling the cart on a tour of the byways of Much Marcle, has gone on strike, and not even his smartly attired bowler-hatted driver can entreat him to carry on. Or it could be something to do with a lunchtime over-indulgence in some of Henry Weston's Old Rosie, a strong 7.3 per cent unfiltered scrumpy, named after a 1920s steam engine, and winner of a vatful of awards.

If I were to ask you which county you thought to be synonymous with cider, you'd probably answer "Somerset". You might even turn those S's into Z's, just to make the point. But you have to travel northwards until you're on the border between England and Wales to find the true wearer of the cider crown. Herefordshire might be better known for its cattle, but without doubt its more pressing claim to fame is its cider. Well over half of the 115 million gallons drunk every year in the UK comes from here, from tiny farms with their own orchards producing distinctive flavours from apples with names like Kingston Black and Dabinett, up to the big daddy of them all – Bulmers in Hereford, the biggest cider producer in the world.

At the height of the harvesting season in autumn, 1,200 tons of apples arrive at Bulmers' mill every day. Of the large vats here, there's one called "Strongbow", built in 1974. With a 1.6 million gallon capacity, it holds the Guinness record as the largest container of alcohol in the world.

Although Bulmers doesn't take tourist visitors, the nearby Cider Museum provides an insight into the way cider is made, and its history. On certain days throughout the year, there are demonstrations of the way apples had their juice extracted before the advent of hydraulic presses. First the apples are pulped in a machine called a scratter box, then they're poured and folded into large cloths called hairs (from the horsehair they were once made of) and stacked up into a "cheese". The press is wound down, with the operators first turning the handles on the screws, then using increasingly large poles to crank up the leverage and squeeze out the last drop of juice.

Cider has been around a long time. In medieval times, children were baptised in the stuff, rather than water, since cider was a good deal cleaner. And Captain Cook took it on his voyages of discovery to help his crew to avoid getting scurvy.

Just five minutes' walk away is Hereford Cathedral, where you'll find the magnificent Chained Library, which includes the 15th-century "Cider" Bible containing the earliest written reference to cider. Here too is the famous Mappa Mundi, the 13th-century map of the world which was saved for the nation only after it was nearly sold in aid of much-needed restoration funds for the cathedral.

Herefordshire has its own Cider Route which you can follow throughout the year, seeing the fascinating processes of cider-making, on a large scale at cider mills such as Weston's Cider or Dunkerton's Cider Mill, or small family-run farms such as Lyne Down Farm. Prime times to visit the county are without doubt during the spring, when the blossoming apple orchards are a blaze of colour, or during the autumn harvest. But whatever time of year you visit, you won't miss out on any tastings, and that's enough to have you singing, "Always look on the bright cider life ..."

Herefordshire Cider Route: Hereford Tourist Information Centre (01432 268430; www.ciderroute.co.uk; email tourism@herefordshire.co.uk). For the Cider Museum, take the A438 Brecon road into Hereford, and then follow the signs.